Compassion: An east‐west comparison

Compassion is an emotion that occupies a central position in Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophy while it is often a neglected subject in contemporary western philosophy. This essay is a comparison between an Eastern view of compassion based upon Mahāyāna Buddhist perspectives and a western view of the same emotion. Certain principles found in Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophy such as the Bodhisattva Ideal, and suffering (dukkha) to name two, are explored for the information they contain about compassion. An essay by Lawrence Blum is taken as representative of a Western view (but not exclusively) and it is analyzed for its shortcomings in light of the Buddhist view. The conclusion briefly describes the value of understanding an eastern view on compassion as a means of filling the void one finds in western medical ethics discourse which focuses so heavily, and redundantly, upon issues such as patient autonomy and paternalism.     

A faith for all seasons

A FAITH FOR ALL SEASONS:ISLAM AND WESTERN MODERNITY. By Shabbir Akhtar. London: Bellew Publishing, 1990. 251pp. Hb. £25.00. ISBN 0–947792–41–4.     

Ursachen der gegenseitigen Verdeckung von taktil dargebotenen Buchstaben: Unterbrechung,Summation oder Verzögerung?

Zusammenfassung Für die Erklärung der Verdeckung von Reizen in verschiedenen Sinnesmodalitäten mit einfacher Struktur wurden in der Literature bisher im wesentlichen zwei verschiedene Erklärungskonzepte diskutiert: Die Summationshypotheses behauptet, daß die Eindrücke von schnell aufeinanderfolgenden Reizen sich zu einer Gesamtrepräsentation überlagern, aus der die Einzelreize erschwert herauszuanalysieren sind, die Unterbrechungshypothese dagegen nimmt an, daß die Verdeckung auf eine Störung der Verarbeitung des einen Reizes durch die kurzzeitig folgende Darbietung eines weiteren Reizes zurückgeht. Zur Erklärung der gegenseitigen Verdeckung von taktil dargebotenen Buchstaben sind beide Hypothesen ungeeignet, weil sie die unterschiedliche Beeinträchtigung von Form- und Positionserkennung der Buchstaben nicht erfassen können. Deshalb wurde eine neue Hypothese aufgestellt: Die Repräsentation eines Reizes im sensorischen Register wird durch die Merkmalsanalyse des vorangegangenen Reizes kaum behindert, aber dessen Übertragung aus dem analysierenden System in das Kurzzeitgedächtnis eine bestimmte Zeit verzögert. Diese Verzögerungshypothese wurde mit einem Experiment überprüft, in dem 3 Vpn je etwa 12 Versuchsstunden lang die Erkennung von Buchstabenpaaren übten. Da die Diskrimination zwischen den Buchstaben bei taktiler Darbietung sehr viel schwieriger als bei visueller ist, wurden nur 5 Buchstaben im Experiment verwendet. Die Ergebnisse des Experiments werden durch ein mathematisches Modell beschrieben. Bezüglich der numerischen Werte der freien Parameter machen die 3 Hypothesen unterschiedliche Vorhersagen. Die Parameterschätzung ergab eine gute Übereinstimmung des Modells mit den Daten und zeigte eine Überlegenheit des Konzeptes Verzögerung für die Erklärung der gegenseitigen Verdeckung taktil dargebotener Buchstaben.

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Sources of mutual masking of tactile presented letters: Interruption, summation or delay?

Summary Two different explanations of the masking phenomenon with simple structured stimuli have been discussed in the literature: The summation hypothesis and the interruption hypothesis. The summation hypothesis maintains that the images of quickly succeeding stimuli superimpose and build up one unified representation from which the single stimuli are difficult to analyse. In contrast the interruption hypothesis assumes that masking is caused by the successive stimulus disturbing the processing of its predecessor. Both hypotheses are unacceptable for an explanation of the mutual masking of tactile presented letters where a different impairment of form and position recognition is observed. Therefore a third hypothesis was tried: The processing of a preceding stimulus hardly affects the representation of the successive one in the sensory register. Rather the transfer from the analysing system to short-term memory is delayed by a certain time. This delay hypothesis was tested by an experiment in which three subjects practiced to recognize pairs of letters for a total of 12 sessions. Since discrimination between letters is much more difficult with tactile compared to visual presentation only five letters were used as stimuli. The results are described by a mathematical model. The three hypotheses predict discrepant numerical values for the free parameters. Parameter estimation revealed a close fit between the general model and the data and showed a superiority of the delay hypothesis as an explanation of mutual masking of tactile presented stimuli.

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Für die wertvolle Beratung bei der Erstellung des endgültigen Textes danken wir besonders Herrn Professor Dr. K. F. Wender und Herr Dr. K. Nippert.     

Launching the effect: Representations of causal movements are influenced by what they lead to

We investigated whether the representation of an observed causal movement is influenced by its observed effect. Subjects watched displays showing collisions between two objects. In this 'launching event' (Michotte, 1946/1963), one of the two objects (Object A) started to move and set a second, initially stationary, object (Object B) into motion, which gave a strong impression of apparent causality. The apparent effectiveness of A's movement was manipulated by varying the velocities of A and B. When the velocity of B was higher than that of A, the effectiveness of the collision was high; when it was smaller it was low. Then, subjects were asked to reproduce the velocity of the causal movement. Reproduced velocity followed the velocity of both Object A and Object B, which supports the hypothesis that the effect of a movement is integrated with its apparent cause. However, when apparent causality was reduced by changing the direction of motion of B or by covering the point of collision, the influence of the effect on the representation of the cause persisted, suggesting that retroactive interference may account for the findings. The interference effect could not be reduced to temporal recency or spatial integration and was not obtained in the reverse temporal order (proactive interference). Rather, the two successive movements were blended in memory.     

Strategic Revenue Management under Uncertainty: A Case Study on Real Estate Projects in India

This paper proposes an approach for strategic revenue management under uncertainty for real estate projects. It integrates three modelling techniques: first, artificial neural network integrated support vector machines for forecasting the profit and loss‐making real estate residential projects; second, analytical network process approach using decision making trials and evaluation laboratory methodology for establishing interrelationships among factors; and third, multiobjective genetic algorithm approach for obtaining optimal numbers and types of apartments in a real estate project. We compare the respective revenues generated with the new number of apartments and price from the suggested revenue maximization model and that of the old practiced one through a case study of India. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Interactive effects of social network centrality and social identification on stress

The present study aimed to integrate the social identity approach to health and well-being with social network analysis. Previous research on the effects of social network centrality on stress has yielded mixed results. Building on the social identity approach, we argued that these mixed results can be explained, in part, by taking into account the degree to which individuals identify with the social network. We hence hypothesized that the effects of social network centrality on stress are moderated by social identification. Using a full roster method, we assessed the social network of first-year psychology students right after the start of their study programme and three months later. The effects of network centrality (betweenness, closeness, eigenvector centrality) and social identification on stress were examined using structural equation models. As predicted, our results revealed a significant interaction between network centrality and social identification on stress: For weakly or moderately identified students, network centrality was positively related to stress. By contrast, for strongly identified students, network centrality was unrelated to stress. In conclusion, our results point to the perils of being well-connected yet not feeling like one belongs to a group.